Memory & Ritual

‘With a long wooden handle,
‘And a brass dish with a lid.
‘My gran put red hot coals into it,
‘Took it to beds, swished it around.
‘Then in they’d get, snug and warm. While
‘Ice formed
‘Inside the windows. The ice
‘Stayed all night, left puddles next day.’

Then Nan added her childhood tale,
Of plates put into the range.
When heated up, her ma and pa,
Wrapped the plates in newspaper,
Gave each child one to take to bed.
It warmed them as ice formed
Inside the windows.

‘Ma bought us electric blankets,
‘At 8pm she said
‘Go switch the blanket on’
‘At 9pm, ‘Goodnight, don’t forget
‘To switch the blanket off.’
We were snug and warm as
Ice formed
Inside the windows.

Gosh, they must have stayed warm for longer than plates … and you’ve reminded me of ceramic hot water bottles that were in the cellar of my childhood home, a sort of beige colour with corks as I recall :)

heh-heh, on the ‘elf and safety front today, are you, Carrie? If so, see the posts about ceramic hot water bottles with corks (!) don’t know that I fancy that idea, boiling water and only a cork between me and it? No thanks. But then, I like a cool bed to get into ;)

heh-heh … some great replies to this post, including yours Susan. We all remember times before technology allowed us to heat in a different way ~ how did you used to heat your beds before electric blankets? Was it the same in USA as it was for UK? *intrigued* :)

I know my grandmother used hot water bottles and that fireplace bed warmer looks familiar–my grandmother had something similar propped up against the other fireplace tools, that HER mother must have brought it from France–though by the time I saw either she had switched to electric blankets ;)

I’ve purchased an electric blanket a few weeks back, from the establishment where our life’s dreams are expressed in the form of laminated pictures… (Argos!) I love my electric blanket, but it does make it awfully hard to turf myself out of bed in the morning!
I love your nostalgic poem!